Fuller Hot Rods 1961 Chevy "AKA" The Impaler - Vlad's Own Chariot

Bryan Fuller got into this hobby the way a lot of us did: on a bicycle. He tore apart, customized, broke, and performed daredevil antics on his bike until his dad decided to build a '65 Mustang and made Bryan be the parts washer and gopher. By the time he graduated from high school, Bryan was a full-on car builder, and during summers in college he painted buddies' cars to earn spending money. After graduating from college with a responsible man's degree, he decided building bikes and cars was more his thing, so he enrolled at Wyoming Technical Institute and became one of that school's standout graduates. A job at So-Cal Speed Shop straight out of school, followed by time learning metalshaping from noted metalman Geoff Mitford-Taylor, persuaded him to open Fuller Hot Rods. Working with Chip Foose on a few Ridler award-winning cars and appearing on several episodes of the hugely popular TV show Overhaulin', followed by a stint that he still holds as co-host of Two Guys Garage on the Speed channel, is making Bryan Fuller a household name, at least among gearheads.

2/16We know, it's not an Impala but rather a Biscayne or a Bel Air, but give Fuller some creative license here. You'll note that there is no hood; Bryan and Steve were so proud of the engine and underhood metalwork that they want to show it off for a while. The wheels are from Real Rodders Wheels, 16x10 in the rear and 15x7 in front, with BFGoodrich rubber. The front bumper is a '62 Impala piece shortened and peaked to match the '61 body. The inner headlight buckets feed air to the fender vents. The Moon tank under the bumper was made out of two tanks and a custom-rolled center. At this point, it's fake. Where did the title come from? The inspiration was Vlad the Impaler. Google it.

So it's not a surprise that when Atlanta's Steve Chivington wanted some help building the '61 Chevy he had just bought, he put in a call to Fuller Hot Rods, which had moved to Atlanta. Steve found the Chevy at a car show and realized it would better accommodate hauling his kids than the Year One-built Nova he already had at home. After his wife gave the OK to buy it, it sat in his garage for about a year before he bit the bullet and took it to Fuller's shop for a new drivetrain, suspension, exhaust . . . you can guess the rest of the story

Pretty early into the brainstorming session both men decided the car's main purpose was to be driven long and hard, and they wanted it to look the part. That meant a complete Art Morrison chassis with all the bells and whistles, a big-inch Rat motor, an interior chock-full of custom tricks, and body and detail that will have you staring at this car and crawling over and under it for hours once you see it in person. To hammer home the purposeful attitude they were after, as if the sinister flat-black paint didn't do it already, are hundreds of visible ARP fasteners as far as the eye can see, and a few bare-aluminum interior panels.

3/16The 572ci crate motor came from Scoggin-Dickey and wears a fairly rare '71 Kinsler fuel injection manifold updated for hidden EFI controlled by an Electromotive ECU. The driver-side header was a bear to fabricate; Bryan wanted to get the straightest shot for the steering shaft to the rack-and-pinion to eliminate multiple U-joints. The fix was a split motor mount and running the header tubes around the steering shaft. The trans is a 4L85E automatic from GM Performance Parts.

The car was pretty solid when Fuller got it, but dropping it on the Morrison chassis meant the stock floorpan and firewall had to go, and there was some grandma-style body rash that required attention. The body was set on the chassis with the rockers just slightly higher than the frame, so if it bottoms, the beefy 4x4 framerails take the abuse instead of the sheetmetal.

Once they got to the interior, Bryan and Steve pondered whether to build a rollcage, and after considering the 650hp GM Performance Parts 572 crate motor and two kids in the back seat, it seemed like a good idea. So, 1.250-inch DOM steel tubing was used to circle the passenger compartment with a hoop over each of the A-, B-, and C-pillars, tucked up as tightly and out of the way as they could get it. Bryan Heidt built the 'cage and extended it to the front and rear ends of the chassis, from in front of the A-arms to just before the taillights. Bryan says, "Pick up one corner and you'll know how stiff this car is." The doorjambs were molded to the 'cage and the whole thing was covered in hand-formed aluminum panels so the 'cage is all but invisible. Nice touch.

4/16To hide the 'cage, a ton of time was spent hammering out the interior trim panels from 0.080- or 0.090-inch aluminum 3003 H14 sheet. There are no cardboard door panels or fiberglass kick panels. Kicker speakers were put into custom-aluminum pieces that were left raw.

Right before Heath Patterson shot these photos, the car debuted at the '10 SEMA show where it won a GM design award for Most Unique GM Vehicle. Bryan said the GM judges told him, "We don't have a category for this car to go in, but it is obviously one of the baddest vehicles here." We concur, and hope to find out just how bad it is this summer the plan is to drive the car on the HOT ROD Power Tour(r). We hear that a lot from car builders, so Bryan, consider this a public declaration that the car will be there. There, now he has to bring it!